PACE delays Magnitsky case until late June

The initiative may be discussed at the Assembly Bureau during the PACE summer session

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STRASBOURG, May 25 (Itar-Tass) —— The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) heads have delayed consideration of the expediency of a separate resolution on the Sergei Magnitsky case until the end of June, an Assembly representative told Itar-Tass on Friday.

The initiative may be discussed at the Assembly Bureau during the PACE summer session (June 25-29), he said, adding that a final decision would be made then.

Sixty-nine delegates of the Assembly representing 29 countries led by Dutch deputy Pieter Omtzigt initiated the drafting of the Magnitsky report. Omtzigt also sent a parliamentary inquiry to the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers requesting to spell out the official position on that case. The Committee expressed the hope that the culprits of the Magnitsky death would be identified and brought to justice, and the investigation would be open, rapid and efficient.

Assembly Vice-Speaker, deputy head of the Russian delegation Leonid Slutsky said earlier that the Assembly Bureau did not support a proposal to draft a separate report on the Magnitsky case.

“The Bureau was convinced in a difficult discussion that there was no need to draft a separate report on the investigation of the death of attorney Sergei Magnitsky at a detention ward. A decision not to draft the report was made by 13 votes to four,” he said.

However, the Magnitsky case may be a part of the monitoring report on Russia the Assembly will hear at the autumnal session in October. “The Magnitsky case may be a part of the Russian dossier. Rapporteurs Andreas Gross and Gyorgy Frunda supported the decision not to draft a separate report,” he said.

Magnitsky, 37, spent almost a year at a detention ward on tax evasion conspiracy charges. He was not given medical aid on time and died on November 16, 2009. The death caused a broad public response.